Today was another lovely day at Brookhouse. I got to work with the sweetest boy in year 8 Maths. He tries so so hard, and he has a heart of gold which of course gets him teased by the other kids, and he really struggles with school especially Maths. He is so respectful - he actually thanked me profusely for keeping him in at lunch to do Math! I hope I can of a little bit of use to him, but he really needs someone who can work with him everyday for the full year, not just a few weeks. He said he had been praying for someone to help him with Maths - I wish so much that I could stay, if not for the beautiful country that Kenya is, for this wonderful student.
I also got to spend a good portion of the day with my adorable year 1's and reception (kindergarten) kids. They were so funny. I tried to explain that I am not an octapus - I only have two hands to hold, but that didn't convince them. Whenever we walked anywhere, we were a giant moving blob of kids hanging off my every appendage, lol. They all want so much to learn and to impress "miss aneeka" (they pronounce my name very sweetly). I have a wonderful boy with Autism who I'm focusing on in year 1. He got the entire group of students attached to me to jump over the lines in the field on our way to lunch together - it was very cute. He's always wiggling or moving, and he's really quite bright.
I also discovered how drawing students can be applied to the little ones for classroom management! I lack the loud authoritative voice to get the kids to do their work - especially here where the teachers are much stronger authority figures than in Canada. But I discovered, that if I start drawing a student who is sitting still and doing his/her work, all the other kids get very excited and say "Draw me, Miss! Draw me!" At which point I explain to them that I can only draw students who are sitting very very still and working hard - it's impossible for me to draw someone who is running around the room. It works wonders! I had my most high energy kids sitting in their chairs reading in one class and drawing in my art class :) Of course, whenever I finished a drawing the whole class got excited wanting to see, but they calmed right back down again as soon as I said that I was looking for the next student to draw.
After school, we finalized the bookings for my two excursions to the Mara and the coast for the last week that I'm here. Nairobi and Savage Wilderness are both so beautiful - but Irene tells me that the Mara and Mombasa are even more amazing. I am so excited to see both!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thoughts on Colonization
When I got back from the grade 10 trip, Mumo picked me up from school and drove me home. We had a really good chat about poverty in Kenya, and he gave me a very interesting perspective on the issue, so I thought I'd share with you all. He took me to see the Kibera neighbourhood - I liked that he calls it a low income housing area rather than a slum. His grandfather lived his whole life in a traditional mud hut, and his father of course grew up that way. He explained that the father used to have one hut, and then each wife had her own hut with her kids, and when the teenage boys were old enough, they would build their own hut, and so on.
In a culture where everyone lived in huts, earthquakes were not a disaster - a hut just takes a day to build, and you won't be too badly hurt if it falls on you. The people then had very different values than Western values. Status was measured by how many children you had, not how much money you had. Housing wasn't really a problem because you could always build a hut, so you really just had to worry about if you and your family had eaten that day. If you'd eaten, then you're good. So when colonization brought the idea of working for money, people weren't interested. They had a system that worked, they had the things they valued, and they had food to eat - so why would they work for the British for unnecessary coins? So the British imposed tax so that people would need to have money, and therefore need to work for them. These different values also explained when Kenya isn't a rich country - a country can only become wealthy if the people are wanting to be wealthy individually. In a culture where people are content with what they have, taxes can't amount to very much money because the people don't have money to pay in taxes.
When colonization came, Mumo's dad found the things that it brought like books interesting, and he ended up making money not because his goal was to be rich, but simply because he was curious about these things. He made the transition from growing up in a mud hut to living in a modern house, so Mumo grew up in a house. Many people, however, who came to Nairobi moved in and build what they were used to - mud huts. It only makes sense that if you grew up in a mud hut, you would naturally build a mud hut when you moved. However, the mix of colonization and traditional culture caused problems. Mud huts work well when you have lots of space, but in a city, they cause sanitation issues. In the country, children can play with the chickens and explore, but in the city they have nothing to do. In the country, you can grow your own food, but in the city there is no space. The semi mud huts of the Kibera (Mumo explained they have mud walls, but metal roofs) are not owned by the people - they are rented for I think he said 12ksh a month, so the people have to work for wealthy Kenyans rather than growing food and teaching their children in order to live there.
The government is trying to move people out of the huts into apartments which you can see being constructed (with very innovative scaffolding made of branches!) right beside the Kibera. But Mumo explained that since the people have always lived in a mud hut, they don't feel comfortable in an apartment. They can make money by renting the apartment, so if the government gives them an apartment, they rent it out and go live in another mud hut.
The issues are so complex, and the more I learn, the more I realize that I don't understand. I wonder what the solution is. Simply making Kenya "modernized" doesn't make a lot of sense - there are so many beautiful aspects of the traditional way of life that are lost in modernization. For one example, the traditional way of life is much much better for the natural environment. Another example - one of the teachers that I was talking too told me about his issues with Europe. He was living in Germany, and he was shocked that his neighbours didn't even know eachother. So he just sat on the sidewalk with a beer in the sunshine. He saw everyone peeping out there windows at him, and after a while someone asked him what he was doing. So he just explained that he was enjoying the day like he would in Kenya, and the person joined him. Over the time he was there, he managed to get many of his neighbours outside, just enjoying each other and the sunshine together. In a world where the focus is making money, there isn't enough time to just be - to know your neighbours and enjoy the day as it comes. I hope that colonization never takes that content attitude away from Kenyans.
In a culture where everyone lived in huts, earthquakes were not a disaster - a hut just takes a day to build, and you won't be too badly hurt if it falls on you. The people then had very different values than Western values. Status was measured by how many children you had, not how much money you had. Housing wasn't really a problem because you could always build a hut, so you really just had to worry about if you and your family had eaten that day. If you'd eaten, then you're good. So when colonization brought the idea of working for money, people weren't interested. They had a system that worked, they had the things they valued, and they had food to eat - so why would they work for the British for unnecessary coins? So the British imposed tax so that people would need to have money, and therefore need to work for them. These different values also explained when Kenya isn't a rich country - a country can only become wealthy if the people are wanting to be wealthy individually. In a culture where people are content with what they have, taxes can't amount to very much money because the people don't have money to pay in taxes.
When colonization came, Mumo's dad found the things that it brought like books interesting, and he ended up making money not because his goal was to be rich, but simply because he was curious about these things. He made the transition from growing up in a mud hut to living in a modern house, so Mumo grew up in a house. Many people, however, who came to Nairobi moved in and build what they were used to - mud huts. It only makes sense that if you grew up in a mud hut, you would naturally build a mud hut when you moved. However, the mix of colonization and traditional culture caused problems. Mud huts work well when you have lots of space, but in a city, they cause sanitation issues. In the country, children can play with the chickens and explore, but in the city they have nothing to do. In the country, you can grow your own food, but in the city there is no space. The semi mud huts of the Kibera (Mumo explained they have mud walls, but metal roofs) are not owned by the people - they are rented for I think he said 12ksh a month, so the people have to work for wealthy Kenyans rather than growing food and teaching their children in order to live there.
The government is trying to move people out of the huts into apartments which you can see being constructed (with very innovative scaffolding made of branches!) right beside the Kibera. But Mumo explained that since the people have always lived in a mud hut, they don't feel comfortable in an apartment. They can make money by renting the apartment, so if the government gives them an apartment, they rent it out and go live in another mud hut.
The issues are so complex, and the more I learn, the more I realize that I don't understand. I wonder what the solution is. Simply making Kenya "modernized" doesn't make a lot of sense - there are so many beautiful aspects of the traditional way of life that are lost in modernization. For one example, the traditional way of life is much much better for the natural environment. Another example - one of the teachers that I was talking too told me about his issues with Europe. He was living in Germany, and he was shocked that his neighbours didn't even know eachother. So he just sat on the sidewalk with a beer in the sunshine. He saw everyone peeping out there windows at him, and after a while someone asked him what he was doing. So he just explained that he was enjoying the day like he would in Kenya, and the person joined him. Over the time he was there, he managed to get many of his neighbours outside, just enjoying each other and the sunshine together. In a world where the focus is making money, there isn't enough time to just be - to know your neighbours and enjoy the day as it comes. I hope that colonization never takes that content attitude away from Kenyans.
A Weekend to Remember
This weekend, I had the opportunity to go with the year tens on their class trip to Savage Wilderness for Friday through Sunday. I learned so much, got to know more of the wonderful teachers and students, and experienced both joy with God's beautiful creation and sadness with the tragedies in life.
The bus trip was filled with the beautiful landscapes and people outside. Unfortunately for my non-Kenyan tummy, my body found the heat, humidity different smells and very bumpy roads a bit too much. Lol – at least I set a new personal record for the most motion sick I have been yet even on extra strength gravol! We made it safely there, and I took it easy for the rest of the day, chatting with the teachers and students and trying very hard to learn everyone’s names.
I also got to spend part of the day studying my swahili, which I am still quite terrible at speaking. It's nice to live with Mwema and Jayna who are also just learning though - they are a great encouragement :)
The people working at camp to prepare the food, set things up, etc were just great. I found the different culture a bit tricky to integrate myself into – I wanted to say thank you for the huge amount of work they were doing and chat a bit, but they were very shy around me. I’m not sure how to bridge that gap.
In the evening, the camp had a crazy night walk, but with my stomach still a little queezy and some questionable safety precautions, I decided to be the official photographer instead of coming along. The walk consisted of climbing through mud, thorn brushes, trees, and waist-high water in the dark following a rope… and they went ahead with it even though there was a thunderstorm with lightening not too far away – I was very worried about the kids. In the end, all the kids were fine except a few scrapes, but both the teachers who went got hurt – one got a thorn in his foot, and the other a thorn in his eye, which really worried me. Amazingly, when he went to the hospital on sunday, the doctor found that the thorn had come out naturally when he went swimming on saturday! A very good miracle.
As the sun went down, I touched my very first palm tree - they are nice and smooth. And then noticed that this little fellow was hanging watching the sunset on the palm tree with me :)
I had a nice sleep in a cute tent which kept the rain out well. In the morning, I dragged myself out of bed for breakfast – it’s always hard to get out of bed when it’s rainy. Fortunately, most of our activities were water activities, so the rain didn’t really matter, and it cooled us off nicely on land. We started with rock climbing, which was a fun start to the day. The students were funny – the wall looks very easy from the ground, so some of the boys were bragging about how pro they would be before they tried to climb. Once they started climbing, they got a little scared and found the wall to be much more difficult than it appeared. They all had fun though and encouraged each other well to brave the heights. There was enough time for teachers to climb too which was nice.
The camp reminded me in many ways of Wesley Acres and Camp Iawah. It was actually quite interesting - there are many similarities to Canada, but at the same time differences. The fireflies that wink around the camp at night remind me of home, and many of the games that the kids played were familiar. Of course the vegetation is different, and "Old man Savage" has built many unique things around the camp - for example, he powers the camp entirely with a water generator he made himself and he designed and built an impressively long suspension bridge across the river. He's crazy smart and also just a little crazy... he was so funny to raft with! Below is a photo for Dave and Dad to start designing a generator :)
So, I have concluded that all of you, my fabulous friends and family, need to experience Kenya – pictures and stories really can’t do it justice. You have to be in the middle of the beautiful nature and people travelling on a river or even just down a very bumpy road to really understand. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this beautiful river or roads - another reason why you all must come and visit. After lunch, we took a short bus ride a few kilometers upstream of the campsite. Then we walked through beautiful fields to the river. It’s funny to see how differently the students perceive things – they found our walk a real drag – they thought walks were boring. But for a newcomer, it was so beautiful to see the rolling hills, the people out working in their fields, the goats and cows being herded by, the lovely trees, flowers, and rich red mud. Another teacher told me it reminded him of his childhood, and I could absolutely picture how much fun it would be to run around in those fields for a kid.
After a bit, we got to the river, and received a little lesson on how to paddle in a raft. Then in we hopped, and started down the river. It was so much fun to paddle hard, then hold on for dear life as we came crashing through the rapids. I’m guessing that’s how I got all these random bruises on my knees, but I was having too much fun at the time to even notice. There were many mini-waterfalls – I was in the front of the boat, and went completely underwater. At the end of one set of rapids was a nice waterfall, and after going down it, we paddled back underneath the water four or five times until all of us had lost our paddles and fallen off the raft completely. The water was opaque and muddy, so we were warned not to try to swim to the surface, since we wouldn’t be able to tell where the surface is, so I just held my breath. It amazed me how far down the river I travelled underwater in the few seconds before my lifejacket brought me to the surface – the water moves you so fast. We all swam to the shore, and the man steering the raft picked us up to continue on.
In the calmer parts of the river, we floated slowly and watched the beautiful landscapes go by. People living on the shores in simple but functional homes had boats made of three simple planks of wood attached together. They were using their boats to carry sticks across the river – I wonder what they thought of the ridiculous crew intentionally going over the rapids. Others were bathing in the river. Some kids were just playing and watching us go by or herding goats by the side of the water.
Also, during the quiet parts of the river, we got to see so many amazing birds. There was an all black bird with bright orange feet and a lime green beak. Up in the tree tops were lime green doves. Soaring above us were beautiful eagles. White spotted cormorants swam in the river with us. Almost every tree that overhung the river was full of these sweet little nests of grass that hung so delicately from the branches. Inside them living beautiful yellow birds with a bit of red around their beaks. It helped that one of the teachers along is an ornithologist, so he taught me the names of all these birds, though I’ve forgotten most of them already – grrrr to my memory.
At the bottom of the next set of rapids was a beautiful and huge waterfall. We didn’t go over of course – there was a gentler rapids around the falls, but at the bottom we paddled up as close to the water as we could, which was not easy with the force of the water and the spray. It was phenomenal to see so much amazing red brown water (it’s coloured by the red dirt). All the mist formed a beautiful double rainbow that cover over half a circle in front of us. So incredibly gorgeous. We got out on a nearby rock, and I just sat and watched the waterfall while the students swam in the river there for a bit.
When our rafting trip finally had to come to an end, we showered and got dressed for dinner. The evening activity was a brilliant move on behalf of the camp – they had a scavenger hunt, that involved the kids basically just cleaning up the camp. I went with the girls, and we had a lot of fun together. . They were starting to warm up to me a bit more. Afterwards was the task to design and egg protecting contraption, and I fear for the future of engineering… lol. I switched tents with one of the teachers because his tent was very small, and headed for a much needed bed.
This morning, I met termites - they are quite amazing! They are very excited and fly all over the place, and shed their wings in a few hours. Then they tunnel into the ground for the next phase of their life. Here's one little guy:
Also on our last day, I got to go kayaking with the students, and I got to share a bit of Canadian culture with them! They were complaining that the kayaks were soooo heavy, so I told them that in Canada, we carry canoes which are much heavier than the little whitewater kayaks we were using for several kilometers to portage between lakes. They were of course just trying to carry the kayak with their arms, not on their shoulders, so they didn’t know how much easier it is to balance a boat on your shoulders than it is to lift it with your arms. So they were in shock that their short white teacher could carry something bigger than a kayak – a good laugh.
Finally, before we went home, the camp had all the students draw a giant picture all together about what they will take away. It wasn’t working at first – the students were tired and hesitant to put anything on the paper. So I got to apply a bit of what I learned at Sharbot Lake! I sat down at the table with them, and started to draw the student across from me. She was shy at first, but by the time the camp told us to stop drawing, nearly the whole table was engaged in drawing or encouraging each other to draw, and they shouted “No, give Miss more time – she’s drawing me”. It’s exciting to see how the same teaching strategy that my Sharbot Lake associate taught me can work in a completely different culture with students who couldn’t be more opposite from my Sharbot Lake kids.
The way home was a very tragic trip. The roads here are very dangerous, especially for the pedestrians, cyclists and people who ride in the Matatus. Our school bus drove by a terrible incident that the police were just arriving at. A man was lying across the middle of the road – he had just been hit by a Matatu on his bicycle, and he didn’t have a helmet. I don’t know if he was alive or severely injured. But the speeds on the highway are very fast, and nearly all the Matatus I have seen drive way faster than would be safe. It was an awful tragic scene that I don’t think I will be able to forget.
The bus trip was filled with the beautiful landscapes and people outside. Unfortunately for my non-Kenyan tummy, my body found the heat, humidity different smells and very bumpy roads a bit too much. Lol – at least I set a new personal record for the most motion sick I have been yet even on extra strength gravol! We made it safely there, and I took it easy for the rest of the day, chatting with the teachers and students and trying very hard to learn everyone’s names.
In the evening, the camp had a crazy night walk, but with my stomach still a little queezy and some questionable safety precautions, I decided to be the official photographer instead of coming along. The walk consisted of climbing through mud, thorn brushes, trees, and waist-high water in the dark following a rope… and they went ahead with it even though there was a thunderstorm with lightening not too far away – I was very worried about the kids. In the end, all the kids were fine except a few scrapes, but both the teachers who went got hurt – one got a thorn in his foot, and the other a thorn in his eye, which really worried me. Amazingly, when he went to the hospital on sunday, the doctor found that the thorn had come out naturally when he went swimming on saturday! A very good miracle.
As the sun went down, I touched my very first palm tree - they are nice and smooth. And then noticed that this little fellow was hanging watching the sunset on the palm tree with me :)
So, I have concluded that all of you, my fabulous friends and family, need to experience Kenya – pictures and stories really can’t do it justice. You have to be in the middle of the beautiful nature and people travelling on a river or even just down a very bumpy road to really understand. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this beautiful river or roads - another reason why you all must come and visit. After lunch, we took a short bus ride a few kilometers upstream of the campsite. Then we walked through beautiful fields to the river. It’s funny to see how differently the students perceive things – they found our walk a real drag – they thought walks were boring. But for a newcomer, it was so beautiful to see the rolling hills, the people out working in their fields, the goats and cows being herded by, the lovely trees, flowers, and rich red mud. Another teacher told me it reminded him of his childhood, and I could absolutely picture how much fun it would be to run around in those fields for a kid.
After a bit, we got to the river, and received a little lesson on how to paddle in a raft. Then in we hopped, and started down the river. It was so much fun to paddle hard, then hold on for dear life as we came crashing through the rapids. I’m guessing that’s how I got all these random bruises on my knees, but I was having too much fun at the time to even notice. There were many mini-waterfalls – I was in the front of the boat, and went completely underwater. At the end of one set of rapids was a nice waterfall, and after going down it, we paddled back underneath the water four or five times until all of us had lost our paddles and fallen off the raft completely. The water was opaque and muddy, so we were warned not to try to swim to the surface, since we wouldn’t be able to tell where the surface is, so I just held my breath. It amazed me how far down the river I travelled underwater in the few seconds before my lifejacket brought me to the surface – the water moves you so fast. We all swam to the shore, and the man steering the raft picked us up to continue on.
In the calmer parts of the river, we floated slowly and watched the beautiful landscapes go by. People living on the shores in simple but functional homes had boats made of three simple planks of wood attached together. They were using their boats to carry sticks across the river – I wonder what they thought of the ridiculous crew intentionally going over the rapids. Others were bathing in the river. Some kids were just playing and watching us go by or herding goats by the side of the water.
Also, during the quiet parts of the river, we got to see so many amazing birds. There was an all black bird with bright orange feet and a lime green beak. Up in the tree tops were lime green doves. Soaring above us were beautiful eagles. White spotted cormorants swam in the river with us. Almost every tree that overhung the river was full of these sweet little nests of grass that hung so delicately from the branches. Inside them living beautiful yellow birds with a bit of red around their beaks. It helped that one of the teachers along is an ornithologist, so he taught me the names of all these birds, though I’ve forgotten most of them already – grrrr to my memory.
At the bottom of the next set of rapids was a beautiful and huge waterfall. We didn’t go over of course – there was a gentler rapids around the falls, but at the bottom we paddled up as close to the water as we could, which was not easy with the force of the water and the spray. It was phenomenal to see so much amazing red brown water (it’s coloured by the red dirt). All the mist formed a beautiful double rainbow that cover over half a circle in front of us. So incredibly gorgeous. We got out on a nearby rock, and I just sat and watched the waterfall while the students swam in the river there for a bit.
When our rafting trip finally had to come to an end, we showered and got dressed for dinner. The evening activity was a brilliant move on behalf of the camp – they had a scavenger hunt, that involved the kids basically just cleaning up the camp. I went with the girls, and we had a lot of fun together. . They were starting to warm up to me a bit more. Afterwards was the task to design and egg protecting contraption, and I fear for the future of engineering… lol. I switched tents with one of the teachers because his tent was very small, and headed for a much needed bed.
This morning, I met termites - they are quite amazing! They are very excited and fly all over the place, and shed their wings in a few hours. Then they tunnel into the ground for the next phase of their life. Here's one little guy:
The way home was a very tragic trip. The roads here are very dangerous, especially for the pedestrians, cyclists and people who ride in the Matatus. Our school bus drove by a terrible incident that the police were just arriving at. A man was lying across the middle of the road – he had just been hit by a Matatu on his bicycle, and he didn’t have a helmet. I don’t know if he was alive or severely injured. But the speeds on the highway are very fast, and nearly all the Matatus I have seen drive way faster than would be safe. It was an awful tragic scene that I don’t think I will be able to forget.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Rainy Day
My second day at Brookhouse went very well. The highlight of today was definitely working with two boys with Down's syndrome. We were playing with water outside, and the younger boy accidentally splashed cold water on himself. He started to shiver, and the older boy - also with severe Down's syndrome - immediately took his towel and wrapped up the younger boy beside him. Whenever the towel slipped, he fixed it. It was so beautiful to watch this boy care and connect with his friend.
That silly Canadian accent of mine posed more challenges today. I was working with a girl from Sudan who is struggling with spelling. We were trying to sound out words together so that she could spell how they sounded. The first word was "steep" - she got the "st", but when I exaggerated the "eee" sound, she confidently wrote an "i" and couldn't understand how I thought the clearly "i" sound that I was making could be spelt "ee". Next, we were trying to sound out "every", which to her should be "evari". I'm worried that I'm just confusing her more with my accent when she's already struggling.
Tomorrow with Brookhouse, I'll be going to Savage Wilderness tomorrow morning for the weekend with the grade 10's (or year 10's) for a class trip. It's a place 2 hours north of here where we'll be going whitewater rafting, hiking, etc. I'm quite excited - it's my first overnight school trip, so I hope the year 10's are alright... I'll be out of email contact of course during the trip, but I'll share all about it when I get back on sunday night.
Today, everyone welcomed me to Kenya's rainy season. It rained most of the day, and quite a bit. The mud is a lovely bright red since much of the dirt is red. And people have the most innovative ways of staying dry. Some people were wearing plastic bags as shawls, as interesting hats, as capes, as coats, as anything. My favourite pedestrian we saw, however, was carrying just the handle and stick of his umbrella. I suppose the wind must have taken the rest away, but he had kept his stick. The huge number of pedestrians didn't decrease at all in the rain, and the drivers only got more aggressive with the weather. In our short ride, we passed two accidents, and I was so worried a pedestrian would be hit. The philosophy of traffic is very different from Canada - in Canada, I think there is an atmosphere of knowing the government will take care of us. It will post safe speed limits, put up barriers, fill in dangerous holes in the road, clear dangerous brush, keep the stop lights working, arrest other dangerous drivers, remove falling apart vehicles from the road, test vehicles emissions, etc. Here in Kenya, the atmosphere seems to be much more - don't rely on the government - you and your family is all you have. So you choose what risk you want to live with - how fast you want to drive, which roads you take, whether you drive your falling apart vehicle, etc. Fortunately Irene is a good driver, and she is careful in the very busy intersections with broken stop lights!
The route we took home tonight was a bit different - through an area with many small businesses. The people make amazing furniture and some incredible metal sculptures - very beautiful workmanship - and they set everything for sale out on the yard in front of the shop. The actual building for the shop however, was barely standing up - despite the people's obvious talent and good craftsmanship. One couple didn't have a shop, so they stood together under an umbrella with a small stove and a bag of corn to sell grilled corn to pedestrians. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to how stark the class level seperated by income are here. It's hard.
That silly Canadian accent of mine posed more challenges today. I was working with a girl from Sudan who is struggling with spelling. We were trying to sound out words together so that she could spell how they sounded. The first word was "steep" - she got the "st", but when I exaggerated the "eee" sound, she confidently wrote an "i" and couldn't understand how I thought the clearly "i" sound that I was making could be spelt "ee". Next, we were trying to sound out "every", which to her should be "evari". I'm worried that I'm just confusing her more with my accent when she's already struggling.
Tomorrow with Brookhouse, I'll be going to Savage Wilderness tomorrow morning for the weekend with the grade 10's (or year 10's) for a class trip. It's a place 2 hours north of here where we'll be going whitewater rafting, hiking, etc. I'm quite excited - it's my first overnight school trip, so I hope the year 10's are alright... I'll be out of email contact of course during the trip, but I'll share all about it when I get back on sunday night.
Today, everyone welcomed me to Kenya's rainy season. It rained most of the day, and quite a bit. The mud is a lovely bright red since much of the dirt is red. And people have the most innovative ways of staying dry. Some people were wearing plastic bags as shawls, as interesting hats, as capes, as coats, as anything. My favourite pedestrian we saw, however, was carrying just the handle and stick of his umbrella. I suppose the wind must have taken the rest away, but he had kept his stick. The huge number of pedestrians didn't decrease at all in the rain, and the drivers only got more aggressive with the weather. In our short ride, we passed two accidents, and I was so worried a pedestrian would be hit. The philosophy of traffic is very different from Canada - in Canada, I think there is an atmosphere of knowing the government will take care of us. It will post safe speed limits, put up barriers, fill in dangerous holes in the road, clear dangerous brush, keep the stop lights working, arrest other dangerous drivers, remove falling apart vehicles from the road, test vehicles emissions, etc. Here in Kenya, the atmosphere seems to be much more - don't rely on the government - you and your family is all you have. So you choose what risk you want to live with - how fast you want to drive, which roads you take, whether you drive your falling apart vehicle, etc. Fortunately Irene is a good driver, and she is careful in the very busy intersections with broken stop lights!
The route we took home tonight was a bit different - through an area with many small businesses. The people make amazing furniture and some incredible metal sculptures - very beautiful workmanship - and they set everything for sale out on the yard in front of the shop. The actual building for the shop however, was barely standing up - despite the people's obvious talent and good craftsmanship. One couple didn't have a shop, so they stood together under an umbrella with a small stove and a bag of corn to sell grilled corn to pedestrians. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to how stark the class level seperated by income are here. It's hard.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Arriving in Kenya!
What an interesting and wonderful first few days! It started with the most beautiful plane take-off I have every had. We popped over the clouds in Montreal to see the sun setting on the tops of the beautiful sea of clouds.
After a nice chat with the friendly exchange student beside me, I landed in the gorgeous city of Zurich as the sun was rising over the snow covered mountain tops.
I wish I could have had more time to explore Zurich, but soon I was on the next plane for Nairobi.
I landed just after sunset, and was greeted by a sea of signs with various names on them. I spotted my name in big letters on a piece of paper, and was warmly greeted my whole host family. Sleepy, but happy, we went back to their home.
Irene had prepared a lovely dinner for us, and I gave them my painting of Canada. Fortunately, it matched their decor very well! We soon went to bed, and I had a much needed sleep. I slept till 10:30 the next day, which was very nice.
When I got up, I explored the neighbourhood a bit - everyone was so friendly. They all said "hi", but I tried to greet people with my tiny bit of kiswahili as much as I could. It's so interesting to see the blend of Kenyan, European, Western and other cultures in Nairobi. In how people dress, decorate their houses, etc - the blend of cultures reminds me a lot of Canada - it's just different cultures which have been thrown in the artistic stirring pot. There are few sidewalks, and the traffic is crazy, but don't worry mom - I stayed on the grass, nice and safe :) There are many pedestrians here - it's great to see how many people protect the environment and their health by walking to work or school everyday.
After my walk, I had a very nice swim in the pool on the compound where I'm staying. My hosts warned me that the pool was cold, but it was very nice and warm in comparison to our silly Canadian winter. After a bit of a swim, I dried off and practiced my kiswahili on the side of the pool (again, don't worry mom - I was both covered in sunscreen and in the shade - double safe :D). I met a very nice fellow who works in the compound. He's a great singer, and shared a bit of one of the songs he wrote with me. He loves the kiswahili language - it flows beautiful in music, and was very happy to see I was studying. Of course, he told me it was very easy to speak... not fair!
When Irene came home with the kids from school, I made us a bit of dinner - it was a fun challenge cooking with all different ingredients! I played some classical guitar, and then headed for bed. We had one of the frequent power outages, so I showed Mwema a few drawing tips to do perspective by candlelight.
The next day, today, was my first day at school! Such a busy day! I have met so many people, I can't remember half of their names. I'll be working with many different teachers in many different classes with various children with special needs, integrated into the regular stream. The kids were wonderful - they all welcomed me with a very cute chorus of "Hello Ms. Anneke" - it's so fun to be in an elementary school (called prepratory school here)! The littlest ones had a bit of trouble with my name, but it's only fair as I was struggling with some of their names too. I love how little kids say whatever they think - one boy told me that I sound like his computer... I'm guessing that a reader on his computer has a Canadian or American accent, lol. A girl told me that I don't look Canadian - I look like I'm Scottish.
The school is just as beautiful as the students :) I can't post pictures of my students of course, but here are a few of the school - the outside, the learning support room, the student artwork in the corridors, and the twisted branches of the vines everywhere.
Several of the teachers think Canadians are crazy for living in such a cold place, even +15 degrees sounded way too cold for survival. And I think the longer I stay here, the more I may find myself agreeing with them... lol. The weather is so beautiful here - it's warm with a gentle breeze and just a few clouds in the sky. Apparently the super hot dry season just ended on Sunday, so I am enjoying the "rainy season", during which it has so far only rained at night. There are flowers of every colour on bushes everywhere. It is a very beautiful country.
Just like our snow in Canada is both pretty and sparkling as well as cold and biting, no country is pure beauty. On our drive home from school today, we passed the Kibera - the largest slum in Africa. It feels very unreal to see images that I have only seen in pictures before, and to try to imagine what the person looking back at me is feeling and thinking. When I spoke with the man by the pool yesterday, he talked a lot about the importance of making money. In Canada, we value money, but I think we put a much lower value on money because our culture knows that if we lack money, we will not be completely destitute - the government is there to catch most people who struggle with money issues. Here, the divide between the very rich and the very poor is much more stark. In Canada, kids of poor families tend to remain on welfare because they don't see a future for themselves, even though the opportunities really are there - we have free access to a good education up to grade 12, and there are many bursaries available for post-secondary education. It's a matter of how the kids see themselves, not the reality of what they could do. Here, the poverty feels much harsher because those opportunities seem so unapparent. My associate teacher was explaining to me that the qualified teachers want jobs in the wealthy schools, like the one we are at, and so no one wants to teach in the slums. Parents in the slums try to put together small classes, but they can only teach what they know. I can understand the emphasis on money here - without it, you have little chance of making it anywhere, even if you are the most hardworking driven person in the world. It's very difficult to see these things and have no idea what to do.
I landed just after sunset, and was greeted by a sea of signs with various names on them. I spotted my name in big letters on a piece of paper, and was warmly greeted my whole host family. Sleepy, but happy, we went back to their home.
Irene had prepared a lovely dinner for us, and I gave them my painting of Canada. Fortunately, it matched their decor very well! We soon went to bed, and I had a much needed sleep. I slept till 10:30 the next day, which was very nice.
When I got up, I explored the neighbourhood a bit - everyone was so friendly. They all said "hi", but I tried to greet people with my tiny bit of kiswahili as much as I could. It's so interesting to see the blend of Kenyan, European, Western and other cultures in Nairobi. In how people dress, decorate their houses, etc - the blend of cultures reminds me a lot of Canada - it's just different cultures which have been thrown in the artistic stirring pot. There are few sidewalks, and the traffic is crazy, but don't worry mom - I stayed on the grass, nice and safe :) There are many pedestrians here - it's great to see how many people protect the environment and their health by walking to work or school everyday.
When Irene came home with the kids from school, I made us a bit of dinner - it was a fun challenge cooking with all different ingredients! I played some classical guitar, and then headed for bed. We had one of the frequent power outages, so I showed Mwema a few drawing tips to do perspective by candlelight.
The school is just as beautiful as the students :) I can't post pictures of my students of course, but here are a few of the school - the outside, the learning support room, the student artwork in the corridors, and the twisted branches of the vines everywhere.
Just like our snow in Canada is both pretty and sparkling as well as cold and biting, no country is pure beauty. On our drive home from school today, we passed the Kibera - the largest slum in Africa. It feels very unreal to see images that I have only seen in pictures before, and to try to imagine what the person looking back at me is feeling and thinking. When I spoke with the man by the pool yesterday, he talked a lot about the importance of making money. In Canada, we value money, but I think we put a much lower value on money because our culture knows that if we lack money, we will not be completely destitute - the government is there to catch most people who struggle with money issues. Here, the divide between the very rich and the very poor is much more stark. In Canada, kids of poor families tend to remain on welfare because they don't see a future for themselves, even though the opportunities really are there - we have free access to a good education up to grade 12, and there are many bursaries available for post-secondary education. It's a matter of how the kids see themselves, not the reality of what they could do. Here, the poverty feels much harsher because those opportunities seem so unapparent. My associate teacher was explaining to me that the qualified teachers want jobs in the wealthy schools, like the one we are at, and so no one wants to teach in the slums. Parents in the slums try to put together small classes, but they can only teach what they know. I can understand the emphasis on money here - without it, you have little chance of making it anywhere, even if you are the most hardworking driven person in the world. It's very difficult to see these things and have no idea what to do.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Chaos in Grade 9 Art
Really appreciate the update on Grade 9 Art, Anneke! It's a group of students you won't soon forget. Art must be one of the best places to differentiate, but I'm sure that doing so is a guaranteed recipe for chaos! Wonderful that your associate is so flexible and is working so hard to engage the students. Art must be one of the best activities for students with "troubles."
The other thing that struck me, when I read about your sitting down and working in clay with the students, is that students really treasure having a teacher's attention and being able to chat while working--not always chatting about the subject at hand. Relationship is important for every student, but I'm sure it is MUCH moreso with students who have complicated lives outside of class.
Your notes always lift my spirits, even as they remind me how many students face challenges that most of us did not face when we were in school. THANKS, have a great week 4.
Yours,
Tom
The other thing that struck me, when I read about your sitting down and working in clay with the students, is that students really treasure having a teacher's attention and being able to chat while working--not always chatting about the subject at hand. Relationship is important for every student, but I'm sure it is MUCH moreso with students who have complicated lives outside of class.
Your notes always lift my spirits, even as they remind me how many students face challenges that most of us did not face when we were in school. THANKS, have a great week 4.
Yours,
Tom
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Differentiated Art Instruction
My Grade 9 Art class is a picture of productivity creativity and chaos all in one room, and you know, even with all of the issues, I love that class. The kids come with more baggage than I can even imagine, and I don't have the qualifications to deal with all that, but they're showing up. And this class is quite possibly one of the few classes they are not skipping in any given day, even though it's at the end of the day.
I've learned so much from my associate with this class. Literally every assignment is tailored to each student. One girl loves music, so we've got her airbrushing a guitar. Another likes painting, so we've got her doing a giant oil painting, another is learning portraiture and painting a self-portrait. Another is creating a stop-motion video with clay characters that she is sculpting because she likes movies. And the list goes on. It's wonderful to see all the students doing different projects which interest them.
The issues are still there. I had a few minutes away from running around the class like a chicken with my head cut off (you can only imagine how busy it is to have every student using different materials and doing different projects), so I sat down with two of the students working on their clay characters and made a character out of clay myself. The issues that students face are definitely there and definitely bigger than I am capable of handling, but it was so good to have the opportunity to just talk with students. They are great kids doing their best to make a life out of some difficult pasts. I hope we can keep them engaged in projects that interest them and let them express the realities of the world they live in.
I've learned so much from my associate with this class. Literally every assignment is tailored to each student. One girl loves music, so we've got her airbrushing a guitar. Another likes painting, so we've got her doing a giant oil painting, another is learning portraiture and painting a self-portrait. Another is creating a stop-motion video with clay characters that she is sculpting because she likes movies. And the list goes on. It's wonderful to see all the students doing different projects which interest them.
The issues are still there. I had a few minutes away from running around the class like a chicken with my head cut off (you can only imagine how busy it is to have every student using different materials and doing different projects), so I sat down with two of the students working on their clay characters and made a character out of clay myself. The issues that students face are definitely there and definitely bigger than I am capable of handling, but it was so good to have the opportunity to just talk with students. They are great kids doing their best to make a life out of some difficult pasts. I hope we can keep them engaged in projects that interest them and let them express the realities of the world they live in.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
High on thte 14th, low on the 19th
Hi Anneke,
Good that you recorded all that--great piece of art work. Such emotional turmoil--but I'm so impressed by your commitment to helping people when and if you can. The girl who is being bullied probably has a long history of it; perhaps you could talk to her alone and find out if she has someone in the school whom she trusts. Has your associate seen this in the (short) time before you arrived.
Kingston is bad enough for racist comments; I can't imagine what Sharbot Lake must be like. Both our "kids" (now 35 and 31) are adopted, born in Ottawa of immigrant parents--our son is black, our daughter's genes are half black, half white. Kingston has improved since they went to school, but when does a student in SL ever have a chance to see a black person. How did your roommate react to the story?
I applaud your sensitivity to these issues. It's even harder to know how to respond when you are relatively new and not staying very long. I hope you'll share more as these dramas unfold--and I do hope you're recovering emotionally--perhaps the long weekend will help.
Yours,
Tom
Good that you recorded all that--great piece of art work. Such emotional turmoil--but I'm so impressed by your commitment to helping people when and if you can. The girl who is being bullied probably has a long history of it; perhaps you could talk to her alone and find out if she has someone in the school whom she trusts. Has your associate seen this in the (short) time before you arrived.
Kingston is bad enough for racist comments; I can't imagine what Sharbot Lake must be like. Both our "kids" (now 35 and 31) are adopted, born in Ottawa of immigrant parents--our son is black, our daughter's genes are half black, half white. Kingston has improved since they went to school, but when does a student in SL ever have a chance to see a black person. How did your roommate react to the story?
I applaud your sensitivity to these issues. It's even harder to know how to respond when you are relatively new and not staying very long. I hope you'll share more as these dramas unfold--and I do hope you're recovering emotionally--perhaps the long weekend will help.
Yours,
Tom
Brokenness
Thursday was one of the most emotionally upsetting day of my teaching career so far. In one of my classes, a girl was having so much trouble with drawing in perspective, so that was no problem. I like perspective drawings - it's sort of like math. We were working out her drawing together. Then, while I was helping her, the other students at her table started blatantly bullying her right in front of me - shoving rulers into her forehead - really ignorant stuff. They stopped temporarily with a "Seriously?" from me, but my heart just broke for this girl. What can I do to help her be accepted in her class?
In another class, one of the students had requested that I bring in some of my art to show them. So as students were making art, I went around and brought the disengaged students over one at a time to see one of my paintings. It's a painting that I did in Grade 12 - I thought there would be a better connection with something that I did in highschool than one of my more recent works. It's called Breaking the Bars of AIDS.
It's a story of a boy whose parents have passed away from AIDS, represented in bone-like shapes on the red butterfly's right wing. The bars symbolize stigma in society against children of people with AIDS - here, my high school students connected best with the painting. They understood too well the unfairness of pain faced by a child because of choices their parents made. The left wing of the butterfly shows the boys future education flying away due to these stigmas. Yet there is a hole in the bars, symbolizing a hope for a way out of this tragic situation. Most of my students were really interested in seeing some of my work. It was neat to see the wheels going around in some of their heads thinking, "Maybe I could do real art in high school?".
Then the next slap in the face moment happened. One of my students made an extremely racist and hurtful comment about the boy in my painting. I was reeling. My housemate, and one of my best friends, is black. She's lost many of her aunts and uncles to AIDS. I know that I'm likely highly sheltered, but I've never run into racism like that before - it was like I was running into a brick wall at top speed and falling flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me. I didn't know what to say. I should have taken him to the principal on the spot. I still want to find a way for him to meet my housemate and learn that the horrible things he's learned from home about black people are simple not true. I really need to prepare a list of automatic responses to things like that, because I just wasn't prepared for that.
I returned to bopping around the art class, re-engaging students who were off task. I soon found one girl staring at the floor looking like she was going to cry. So I sat down on the floor where she was looking, and asked her what was going on. The story that unfolded broke my heart. So many things messed up and going wrong, and so few solutions that I could see. After we talked for a few minutes, I was able to set her up with a bit of charcoal to work on a drawing. She made a heart and then ripped her paper up. She told me on wednesday that she was quitting the class, but I hope she stays. I've just started to get to know her, and I know there is so much she could do with art. I know it could help her work through some of these challenges in life.
After school, I went to the mall. There was sale at Le Chateau, and I was hoping to pick up a dress for a wedding on Saturday. I was hungry, so I grabbed a salad at the food court, and looked for a place to have a quick dinner. I really don't like eating alone, so my general food court strategy to find a random person who is also sitting alone and join them for dinner. I saw a sweet looking older woman, and I asked if I could join her. I was just making conversation, so I asked her why she was at the mall. She told me she had grief counselling that evening, and she didn't want to go home because she knew if she went home she wouldn't bother cooking for herself, and she'd just end up over eating on junk food. She'd just lost her husband and one of her parents, her sister has breast cancer, and she is experiencing health problems from all the stress. It was good to be able to listen and offer some encouragement to this woman, but I am emotionally worn out.
Our world is so messed up, and I feel so powerless to piece it back together. These beautiful people are as fragile as eggshells, and they have been stepped on so many times. Is there a way I can return dignity to a girl who feels stupid and unwanted by her peers? Is the a way I can show a boy who has probably never even met a black person that racism is wrong and far from the truth? Is there a way I can help a girl piece together a life that is shattered in so many relational ways? Is there a way I can help a grieving woman get by? It feels like too big of a job. I know there's small things I can do to make things a little better than they were yesterday for these beautiful but broken people. But I can't fix everything, and that's really hard to accept.
In another class, one of the students had requested that I bring in some of my art to show them. So as students were making art, I went around and brought the disengaged students over one at a time to see one of my paintings. It's a painting that I did in Grade 12 - I thought there would be a better connection with something that I did in highschool than one of my more recent works. It's called Breaking the Bars of AIDS.
Then the next slap in the face moment happened. One of my students made an extremely racist and hurtful comment about the boy in my painting. I was reeling. My housemate, and one of my best friends, is black. She's lost many of her aunts and uncles to AIDS. I know that I'm likely highly sheltered, but I've never run into racism like that before - it was like I was running into a brick wall at top speed and falling flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me. I didn't know what to say. I should have taken him to the principal on the spot. I still want to find a way for him to meet my housemate and learn that the horrible things he's learned from home about black people are simple not true. I really need to prepare a list of automatic responses to things like that, because I just wasn't prepared for that.
I returned to bopping around the art class, re-engaging students who were off task. I soon found one girl staring at the floor looking like she was going to cry. So I sat down on the floor where she was looking, and asked her what was going on. The story that unfolded broke my heart. So many things messed up and going wrong, and so few solutions that I could see. After we talked for a few minutes, I was able to set her up with a bit of charcoal to work on a drawing. She made a heart and then ripped her paper up. She told me on wednesday that she was quitting the class, but I hope she stays. I've just started to get to know her, and I know there is so much she could do with art. I know it could help her work through some of these challenges in life.
After school, I went to the mall. There was sale at Le Chateau, and I was hoping to pick up a dress for a wedding on Saturday. I was hungry, so I grabbed a salad at the food court, and looked for a place to have a quick dinner. I really don't like eating alone, so my general food court strategy to find a random person who is also sitting alone and join them for dinner. I saw a sweet looking older woman, and I asked if I could join her. I was just making conversation, so I asked her why she was at the mall. She told me she had grief counselling that evening, and she didn't want to go home because she knew if she went home she wouldn't bother cooking for herself, and she'd just end up over eating on junk food. She'd just lost her husband and one of her parents, her sister has breast cancer, and she is experiencing health problems from all the stress. It was good to be able to listen and offer some encouragement to this woman, but I am emotionally worn out.
Our world is so messed up, and I feel so powerless to piece it back together. These beautiful people are as fragile as eggshells, and they have been stepped on so many times. Is there a way I can return dignity to a girl who feels stupid and unwanted by her peers? Is the a way I can show a boy who has probably never even met a black person that racism is wrong and far from the truth? Is there a way I can help a girl piece together a life that is shattered in so many relational ways? Is there a way I can help a grieving woman get by? It feels like too big of a job. I know there's small things I can do to make things a little better than they were yesterday for these beautiful but broken people. But I can't fix everything, and that's really hard to accept.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Putting a spin on teaching
Wonderful reading, Anneke!! You've discovered (probably not the first time) how quickly teaching can be come discouraging, even to the point of "I'm a failure." It's torture to toss and turn all night thinking, but it pays off. What a brilliant idea you had (I was pretty confident that something good was waiting for me as I continued to read!)!! And how good it is that you can combine physics with art, art with physics (colour!!).
Yes, Grade 9s (and 10s) can be very very frustrating. You certainly seem to be showing that you can be very successful at turning around a frustrating situation.
Love your writing!!
Tom
Yes, Grade 9s (and 10s) can be very very frustrating. You certainly seem to be showing that you can be very successful at turning around a frustrating situation.
Love your writing!!
Tom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)